Seminar 2 – Policing and social media

Seminar 2 – Policing and social media

In Semester 1 this academic year, we are exploring the theme of the media in the CCR seminars. The rise of law-and-order politics in the post-war period has contributed to a complex relationship between the media, crime and the criminal justice institutions tasked with responding to it. The more recent digital revolution has added further layers of complexity, transforming how crime and criminal justice are represented, discussed and contested. This semester, we therefore examine the relationship between media, crime and criminal justice, with a particular focus on film, video games and social media.

Date and time: 2-4pm, 2 December 2026

Venue: Moot Court, School of Law and Online.（Join with Google Meet）

• Dr Liam Ralph (Northumbria University) - ‘Policing, social media, and the 2024 summer riots’

• Discussant: Dr Ilya Yablokov (University of Sheffield)

Title: ‘Policing, social media, and the 2024 summer riots’

Abstract: During the summer of 2024, disorder and rioting spread across towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland. Social media played a central role in how events unfolded, including by fuelling online misinformation. This paper presents research (see Ralph et al., 2026; Robinson et al., 2026) on what was happening online during the 'summer riots' and narrates what the police were sharing on social media at the time as well as how users were responding. The study examines how forces communicated with users during the disorder, including the content, tone and timing of their posts, and how users engaged with this material. The paper sheds light on some unexpected findings relating to user responses, which challenge assumptions about how citizens react to police communication in moments of heightened tension. Drawing on these findings, the paper also offers wider insights from my research on policing and social media over the last decade, reflecting on key trends in police communication, public expectations, and public confidence.

Liam Ralph is an Assistant Professor in Criminology at Northumbria University, where he joined in 2019 as a Research Fellow on the ESRC-funded Visible Policing project. He previously worked in Justice Analytical Services at the Scottish Government, where he undertook a research internship on public confidence and satisfaction during police encounters and established a Public Confidence steering group. His doctoral thesis examined police legitimacy and social media in Scotland. He has published widely on police legitimacy, technology and social media in policing, democratic policing, visible policing, and homicide investigations, and co-authored the fourth edition of Introduction to Policing. He is also Programme Leader for Northumbria Police's DHEP and teaches on criminology, policing, PCDA and DHEP programmes.

Ilya Yablokov's research interests are the state disinformation strategies in Central and Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on Russia, as well as the sociology of news production. As Lecturer in Digital Journalism and Disinformation and founder of the University of Sheffield’s Disinformation, Information Integrity and Literacies cluster, Ilya studies how the Kremlin uses mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories to shape social cohesion and influence public opinion across Russia and beyond. Ilya’s most recent monograph explores how Russian international broadcaster RT uses traditional and new media environments to spread disinformation on subnational, national and international levels. Most recently, Ilya worked on the monograph about Kremlin’s strategic disinformation narratives which is currently under review. Ilya has published research in leading academic journals and appeared in major international media.